Monthly Archives: June 2010

Congress is down to its self-imposed deadline to come up with a financial regulatory reform bill, leaving some of the most controversial provisions — like how to deal with the trading of derivatives — to the final hours. Law Professor Cornelius Hurley, director of the Morin Center for Banking and Financial Law and a former […]

The Supreme Court restricted a favorite tool for pursuing corrupt politicians and self-dealing corporate chiefs, ruling that the law that makes it a crime to deprive the public or one’s employer of the “intangible right of honest services” can only be used where they could prove defendants accepted bribes or kickbacks. It means, for instance, that […]

Word that war-torn Afghanistan has at least $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits already has that country’s officials scrambling to start the process of opening up the nation’s reserves to international investors. Anthropology Professor Thomas Barfield, who also is president of the American Institute of Afghanistan Studies, says cashing in on the potential will take […]

Uzi Arad (r.), Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s national security adviser, says the outlook is bleak for U.S.-mediated Middle East peace talks. International relations and anthropology Professor Augustus Richard Norton, author of “Hezbollah: A Short History,” says the former Mossad agent’s comments offer a window into the strategic calculations of the Israeli government, calculations which continue […]

With about 57 percent of residents voting for it, the town of Fremont, Neb., has passed an ordinance aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration by banning hiring or renting property to illegals. The town now faces a long legal fight similar to that embroiling the state of Arizona after it recently enacted a law […]

General Stanley McChrystal met privately with President Obama over contemptuous remarks the general and his staff made about top administration officials in a magazine article. Shortly thereafter, Obama relieved the McChrystal of his command as head of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. International relations Professor Andrew Bacevich, a retired Army officer and authority on U.S. military […]

Next week’s meeting of the Group of 20 industrial nations in Toronto will face competing efforts to deal with the fragile global economic recovery. International relations Professor Kevin Gallagher, currently a visiting professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing, writes in a Financial Times commentary that developing a sovereign debt crisis management regime should be at […]

The commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal (r.), has been summoned to the White House to explain in person some controversial public remarks he made which were critical of the Obama administration. Political science Professor Graham Wilson, author of “Only in America? American Politics in Comparative Perspective,” says presidential power […]

Kenneth W. Freeman, currently a partner in the investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR), today was named the Allen Questrom Professor and Dean of Boston University’s School of Management (SMG), announced BU President Robert A. Brown. Freeman succeeds Louis E. Lataif who has helmed the school for 19 years. Read the full news release on […]

House and Senate conferees hope to wrap up this week the final version of financial regulatory reform legislation to send to President Obama, with chairmen Barney Frank and Chris Dodd delicately trying to compromises without losing votes for the overall package. What do about the trading of derivatives – the complex financial packages which helped sink […]